I’m writing this as a post, rather than as a very long comment on Marilyn Armstrong’s post from earlier today, “Electrifying Everything.” I encourage you to read Marilyn’s very well written post before reading this post. Go ahead. I’ll wait a few minutes for you to do that and return.

Ah, welcome back. Yes, as Marilyn said, EVs are not the answer, the panacea, that will save the planet from climate change. Yes, the cost of EVs needs to come down to where they are comparable to similarly equipped gas-powered cars. And that will happen sooner, rather than later. And yes, our government and the transportation industry need to address the dearth of fast charging stations outside of big cities (and even in big cities). Fast charging stations need to be as ubiquitous as are gas pumps today.

But, as an EV owner for almost three years now, I’d like to address two claims about EVs that I think are misleading. First is the claim that people don’t like the way electric cars are built.

I don’t understand how not liking the way they are built can be an issue. Most electric cars on the market (excluding Tesla) are built by Ford, GM, Chrysler, VW, Toyota, Nissan, Hyundai, Honda, BMW, Audi, etc. These are the same companies that build traditional gas-powered cars. So what’s behind people not liking how EVs are built when they are built by the same companies as traditional cars? There is ONE study (and the only such study I could find) from Consumer Reports that claims that the reliability of EVs is less than that of gas-powered vehicles. That same study said that the reliability of plug-in hybrids is even worse. But I’ve had my EV for almost three years and have had zero reliability issues.

Second, people are allegedly concerned about the “expensive maintenance issues that are part of the package.”

The truth is that EV maintenance costs are way lower than that of comparable gas-powered cars. EVs have fewer moving parts than gas cars. There are no oil changes, and regenerative braking reduces wear on traditional brakes. Again, I have paid zero dollars in maintenance costs for my EV since I drove it off the lot on August 12, 2022. Zero dollars!

So, yes, the EV alone is not going to end climate change. It’s not meant to be THE solution to climate change. But EVs emit zero pollutants into the atmosphere, and once the price of EVs come down and once charging stations are readily available nationwide, that zero emissions fact will have a positive affect on our climate.

We just need the fossil fuel industry and the GOP politicians to agree to support — rather than fight tooth and nail — the migration to EVs from gas guzzlers. If that could happen, we will go a long way toward cleaner air and maybe even be able to slow down the inevitable catastrophe that climate change will have.

As a nation, we should be encouraging people to buy electric vehicles when and where it makes sense. We need to stop giving people excuses for not considering driving an EV just because some consider EVs to not be the one solution that will halt climate change. How naive can you be?

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Image credit: https://blog.evsolutions.com.